Shaving Performance; RTB To Go

Convertro is helping Dollar Shave Club attribute performance offline -- on TV -- says a new article from Ad Age’s Kate Kaye. She explains that Convertro “measures direct navigation to advertiser websites, or searches by brand, comparing the number of those actions to the number of people who visited the advertiser's site before the spot ran. The spot information comes from post-log data -- the information that shows where and when TV ads actually ran, rather than what was ordered. Pre- and post-log data can differ quite a bit.” Read it.

RTB To Go

There’s a new mobile RTB player in town, RTB.com (was Manage.com), according to MediaPost. The company was founded by Fred Hsu, also a co-founder of Oversee. "The platform monitors the RTB stream, billions daily, and when we see a user on a specific device, knowing their location, we'll determine the user's worth, maybe a fraction of a penny, before making a bid," Hsu said. Read more. Everybody is catchin’ the wave.

Mobile Puzzles

Solve Media, known for its puzzle-like CAPTCHA system, has launched a mobile platform for advertisers to get users interacting with ads. According to a blog post on their site, Unilever and Songza are already using the TYPE-IN platform. “Solve Media’s Mobile TYPE-IN™ ads drive stronger economic results for us while maximizing the time that our users can enjoy the soundtrack of their lives interruption-free,” says Elias Roman, CEO of Songza. Read more.

Local Twitter

Data analytics startup Topsy is getting to the local level through location data on Twitter, helping advertisers reach audiences at the right place and the right time. As AllThingsD’s Mike Isaac points out, there are a host of issues to be ironed out such as the need for repeat references and accuracy only at the country level. “Instead of just being there when the lights go out at the Super Bowl, we’re trying to offer real-time engagement at a local level at any time,” said Jamie de Guerre, SVP of Product and Marketing. Read more.

Consumerizing

B2B marketing is evolving to a more consumer-like approach with Buzzfeed running a GE-sponsored content campaign called Flight Mode, according to Digiday. “The people who influence and make large B2B purchases are the same people who enjoy consuming and sharing news and social emotional content on BuzzFeed,” said Jon Steinberg, President and COO of Buzzfeed. Read more.

The Start of Something New

In a sign of the times, Samsung is dumping its desktop computer business to focus on its mobile computing products, the Korea Times is reporting. “The connected world is going to expand. This is the industry’s new trend. Simply put, desktop PCs are no longer a cash-generator. Samsung is getting smarter,” said Kim Il-tae, a senior fund manager at Taurus Investment. Read more. A Gartner report echoes that sentiment, citing a decrease of 10.6% in desktop computer shipments along with tablet shipment increases of 69.7%. Read its report.

The Republic Of Data

We now know the government collects data on citizens through the technology it uses, but in Andorra one man wants to take data collection and turn it into a lucrative ad business, according to Fast Co Labs. "The goal is to develop a platform that is sourced with data from the telecom, energy provider, installed sensor infrastructures, the bus company, tourist buying habits, store directories, store inventories, restaurants, etc. and to make it available to researchers, entrepreneurs, and companies as a tool for understanding and experimenting with new technologies and ideas," said Travis Rich, director of technology of the Smart Country program. Read more.

Digital “Growths”

Fab.com raised $150 million last week, and continues to expand rapidly, but that doesn’t mean it’s impervious to mistakes. Bloomberg’s Sarah Frier breaks down some issues the company has had, ranging from big ones like missing its earnings mark to smaller ones like threatening employees’ jobs through email. “It is impossible to grow a company as fast as we’ve grown Fab without having mistakes along the way,” CEO Jason Goldberg said. Read more.